Archives for December 2008

The worldwide economic slump will hasten the inevitable demise of land line telephones, free tech support, the once-formidable Internet company Yahoo, satellite radio and more, according to according to ComputerWorld.com write Mike Elgan.

A new report from security company Sophos claims American websites host more malicious software than any other country. Sophos says that’s because so many computers in the U.S. are under the control of malicious hackers.

2009 will see the biggest computer security breach ever, according to Tom Merritt of CNET TV.

Merritt’s other predictions: handheld GPS gadgets will begin to disappear; a mainstream video game company will unveil technology to allow players to control action with thoughts; and bad feelings will emerge between ISPs and customers over bandwidth limits.

People in the Middle East and India are dealing with slower-than-normal Internet connections this week. That’s because three separate undersea Internet cables were severed last Friday in the waters of the Mediterranean.

This is the second time this year the region has been hit with Internet service disruptiona as a result of severed undersea cables.

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has awarded about $7 million in grants for faster Internet connections at public libraries in seven states. The grants are seed money to help libraries attract long-term financial support for high-speed access.

Internet company Yahoo says it will anonymize some user data within 90 days of its collection. That includes information on the sites users visit, and advertisements they click on.

Meanwhile the Ponemon Institute, a research group that focuses on privacy issues, hasreleased its annual Most Trusted Companies survey. Google fell from its top 20 perch, partly because consumers expressed growing unease with Google’s data collection and retention practices.

Delta Airlines is now offering wireless Internet service on board some flights between Washington D.C., New York and Boston. Delta says it will expand the Wi-Fi service to its entire fleet — including planes operated by its Northwest subsidiary — by next summer.

Earlier this year American Airlines and Virgin America began selling in-flight Wi-Fi.

A panel of government and industry experts is urging President-elect Barack Obama to create a new White House office to protect the country from malicious hackers and Internet attacks from foreign governments.

Because cyber attacks are so frequent the government should give them the same level of attention as threats from weapons of mass destruction and global jihad, said James Lewis of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Didn’t get a chance to watch the Giants-Cowboys game last night? Assuming you didn’t TiVo it, you can now pay to watch a high-def replay on the net – or any game played yesterday for that matter. NFL Game Rewind will run you $20 for the season, or $5 for a single week.